And now SQL Server 2019 has added Big Data capabilities under a unified platform by adding support for Apache Spark and HDFS, providing support for managing and querying unstructured data with structured/relational data.

Microsoft SQL Server is the most popular database management system, which provides flexibility to the database administrator to manage their database. It is a full-featured database and designed for use in corporate applications. But, many times, many users need to migrate their SQL Server database to the Azure SQL Database. Because Azure is an intelligent and fully managed relational cloud database that offers the broadest SQL Server engine compatibility.

However, at the time of SQL database to Azure migration, there are chances that we can miss some important steps or information such as trustworthy property, dependent Jobs, Linked Server, Logins etc. The main headache of any conversion is figuring out how to get the information from database and import into the server. Therefore, users need to use a professional tool to transfer SQL Server Database to Azure SQL Database.

One of the best third-party solutions I came up is SysTools SQL to Azure Migration Tool, which allows users to move all the SQL database objects like Tables, Triggers, Stored Procedures etc. to Azure SQL Database. Apart from this, there are many other features of this tool that are discussed below:

Key Features of SQL Server to Azure Migration Tool

1. Easily Transfer SQL Database to Azure

With the help of this tool, users can perform direct migration from SQL to Azure SQL database. For this, you need to provide all the credentials like server name, database name, username and password etc. After that, one can easily transfer SQL Server database to Azure.

2. Option to Add MDF/NDF Files

The tool provides an option to add MDF & associated NDF files to the software. You can also migrate all the database objects like Tables, Triggers, and Stored Procedures etc. from SQL to Azure.

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3. Migrate Corrupted Database

The best part of this utility is that it can convert the corrupted database as well as the healthy file from local SQL server to Microsoft Azure SQL Database. Before migration, it scans the corrupted database files and repair them using either quick or advanced scan options.

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4. Quick and Advance Scan Option

While working with this tool, the user can choose the required scan mode depending on the level of corruption out of the following modes:

– Quick Scan: This mode scans minor corrupted SQL files

– Advance Scan: This mode scan major corrupted SQL files

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5. Auto Detect SQL Server File Versions

The SQL to Azure migration tool has an option to detect the versions of added MDF or NDF files automatically. For this, you just need to click on the checkbox next to this option.

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6. Export Schema Option

The tool provides a feature to save the SQL database schema into Azure in any of the following ways:

– With the Only Schema: It migrates only schema of tables, views etc.

– With Schema & Date: It allows users to transfer both schema and data of all database objects.

Advantages:

– It can also migrate corrupted or inaccessible SQL database to the Azure database.
– The software can preview all database components before migrating to Azure.
– The SQL Server to Azure migration tool has a simple and user-friendly interface.

Disadvantages:

– It is required to have database created on Azure SQL Server Database before migration.
– The Demo version only exports 25 records of each table.

Observational Verdict

After considering all the features of SQL Server to Azure Migration tool, I can say that it is a reliable and effective tool for DBAs and Developers to transfer SQL data to Azure without causing any data loss.